The Venns

The name Venn conjures images of diagrams, does it not? This Venn diagram shows the intersections of the Greek, Latin and Russian alphabet. They are rather pretty in their own way. A chap called John Venn created them. Good for him.

Fascinatingly, the church commemorates John Venn's family today: his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather: Henry Venn, the great-grandfather; John Venn, the grandfather; and Henry Venn the younger, his father.

There is a helpful entry about them at this site.

Henry Venn (great-grandfather) was a clergymen who was deeply influenced (as a member of the Clapham Sect) by William Law's important book, 'Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life'. Over time he altered his view of Christian living.

"...Devotion signifies a life given, or devoted, to God." So begins William Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. Originally published in 1729, Law's book stands as a powerful challenge to Christians. Law teaches that if God is "our greatest good," then the wisest way to live is to please God through a life of worship, adoration, and devotion. Since many fail to live this way, Law diagnoses why and suggests certain concrete practices as a remedy. Thus, no one interested in becoming more devout could ignore this dynamic book. Law's call has encouraged several generations, and does not fail to encourage believers even today with a serious call to a devout and holy life.

Henry Venn changed his Christian perspective, and through personal and generational influence came to personify the evangelicalism many of us adhere to today. I am particularly mindful that this year's Keswick has as its theme - Word to the World. John Venn (grandad) came to help found the Christian Mission Society (CMS). The spiritual background to the emergence of CMS was the great outpouring of energy in Western Europe now called The Great Awakening. John Wesley an Anglican priest and failed missionary became a key player in the UK version of the story. Not all those influenced by the revival left the Anglican Church to become Methodists. One such was John Venn, the saintly rector of Clapham. His son (the diagramatician's father) Henry Venn the Younger, was born at Clapham in 1796. He also eventually devoted himself in 1846 entirely to the work of the Church Missionary Society. He was secretary for thirty-two years, and his organizing gifts and sound judgment made him the leading member of the Society. His aim was that overseas Churches should become “self-supporting, self-governing, and self-extending”. He was instrumental in securing the appointment of the first African Anglican bishop, Samuel A. Crowther, in 1864.

"What Venn the Younger did, in essence, was to wrestle with the reality of
cultural distinctiveness and to map out a missionary strategy that both took
this seriously and sought to extrapolate an implement biblical and historical
principles of church growth. And in doing this he was no lonely beacon seeking
to spread light amid the darkness of his generation. He was rather the most
articulate and systematic exponent of ideas that had a very wide currency in
missionary circles and beyond…"

...writes Peter Williams. The Venns saw the powerful transforming power of the gospel, but crucially saw that it had to take root in a persons living - all of it, which means a persons culture is to be taken seriously.

These men embody the spirit of the Clapham Sect. Its members were chiefly prominent and wealthy evangelical Anglicans who shared common political views concerning the liberation of slaves, the abolition of the slave trade and the reform of the penal system. The group's name originates from Clapham, then a village south of London (today part of south-west London) where many of the group's meetings were held.

After many decades of work both in British society and in Parliament, the group saw their efforts rewarded with the final passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, banning the trade throughout the British Empire and, after many further years of campaigning, the total emancipation of British slaves with the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. They also campaigned vigorously for Britain to use its influence to eradicate slavery throughout the world.

What strikes me is that this group were lampooned in their day as "the saints", which says as much about the life we are called to lead and the worries and fears we have.

These were a deeply evangelical body who were persuaded of the need for God to be felt in personal devotion, in public proclamation and societal reform. The group published a journal, the Christian Observer, edited by Zachary Macaulay and were also credited with the foundation of several missionary and tract societies, including the British and Foreign Bible Society and, as mentioned above, the Church Missionary Society.

Indeed, the Clapham sect have been credited with playing a significant part in the development of Victorian morality, through their writings, their societies, their influence in Parliament, and their example in philanthropy and moral campaigns, especially against slavery. In the words of Tomkins, "The ethos of Clapham became the spirit of the age".

What a bunch of individuals, eh?

Two thoughts to go away with:
1. To what extent am I living a life that pleases God through patterns of worship, adoration, and devotion?
2. Am I engaging with mission? Do I spread the good news?